Accidental Lies
by EvanW
Summary: We all lie sometimes, but sometimes we say things that are entirely untrue, regardless of whether or not we know it to be true. (Endgame spoilers, set in Jackson after the events of the last of us) (Medium-level AU) Oneshot, just thought what-if? And started spitballing, and this came out of it. Constructive criticism in reviews will always be greatly appreciated.


**_**A/N I'd like to thank everybody for their kind reviews, I really didn't think many people would like it at all. I might continue it, if I feel inspired to or if I randomly think of something to write. Thanks -Myles.****_

Ellie and Joel had finally gotten back from Salt Lake city. From the fireflies.

They were settling down nicely, Tommy let them had a half-furnished house, none of the glass was broken, and the doors were intact, so it wasn't a bad choice. Ellie looked around their new house.

"So, this is it." Ellie said as she began unpacking her backpack and putting its contents into several drawers. She filled the drawers with her clothes. She put her pistol on the nightstand. Her hands found their way to the bottom of her pack, there was nothing else in it. Apart from a letter and a photo.

The letter was a note from Ellie's mother. Ellie began reading it again. Ellie began reading it again. She could repeat every word of it without looking but couldn't help but to read it again.

"Ellie,

I'm going to share a secret with you, I'm not a big fan of kids and I hate babies. I was a nurse but never had to deal with babies. I'm looking at you, and I'm just awestruck. I didn't expect to have you, but you have no idea how glad I am that I have you. I know who the father was, but was never able to contact him. It was someone's brother.

You're not even a day old and holding you is the most incredible thing I've done in my life - a life that is about to get cut a little short.

Marlene will look after you. There's no one in this world I trust more than her. When the time comes she'll tell you all about me. Don't give her too much of a hard time. Try not to be as stubborn as me.

I'm not going to lie, this is a pretty messed up world. It won't be easy. The thing you always have to remember is that,

life is worth living! Find your purpose and fight for it.

I see so much strength in you. I know you'll turn out to be the woman you're meant to be. You look a lot like me, or so the other girls tell me. I have a picture for you from a few months ago, before I got pregnant.

Forever... your loving mother,

Anna

Make me proud, Ellie! I love you."

Ellie pulled the bent photo out of a small zip-lock bag. She thumbed over the photo of her mother. She was with Marlene, Marlene looked so young in the photo. Ellie sighed and tried to suppress her tears. She wiped her eyes and sighed.

"You okay?" Joel's voice from a few feet behind Ellie chimed out. Ellie gasped and tried desperately to try to hide the photo she held in her hands.

"Uh- fuck, Joel. I'm fine, really." Ellie said. Joel nodded. He had his arms crossed. Just before he left the room he said.

"Dinner's ready for whenever you want to eat. And- Ellie?" Joel questioned. Ellie nodded to him, she wiped her face again.

"Yeah?" Ellie asked, she was upset with how weak she sounded. Joel paused for a moment before saying anything.

"If you ever- uh- want to talk about anything. T's fine with me, okay?" Joel said. Ellie nodded to him and he left the room. Ellie took a moment to gather herself before she walked downstairs for dinner. Joel was there with their food ready. Ellie looked at it and couldn't help but smile when she saw Joel cooking. He didn't look like he was doing whatever he was trying to correctly, then again, Ellie was no chef.

"Did you cook a lot? Or are we just going to end up eating like- eggshells?" Ellie asked Joel with a teasing tone. Joel chuckled as he continued to prepare the meal.

"There's no eggs 'n this." Joel said in a smart-ass tone. Ellie shrugged her shoulders. Joel continued.

"I used to cook a lot for Sarah. After school snacks, dinner, breakfast, the sort." Joel said. Ellie was surprised how much Joel had been talking about her recently. Ellie was always careful when Joel mentioned her. She didn't want to offend him, and ruin their relationship. So it really was mighty thin ice.

"You sound like you're a great dad." Ellie said. She stuttered mid sentence because she wasn't sure to say if he is a great dad or if he was. _He's still a dad, right? Yeah, he won't be mad._ Ellie caught a whiff of what Joel was cooking. It was definitely fresh meat, but she couldn't tell what.

Joel was smiling faintly. Ellie leaned over Joel's shoulder to try to see what he was cooking. Joel didn't seem to care. She could see that he was cooking a steak. He smirked and shrugged her off of him.

"So- uh, maybe we can talk about it after dinner?" Ellie asked. Joel nodded with a smirk. He ran his hand through his beard.

"There's probably something you're going to do first. There's running water, hot water." Joel said. Ellie's eyes widened. It had been however long since she had a hot shower, she was stuck with washing her hair and body with just a bucket of water or a few extra water bottles they wouldn't be able to carry.

"Holy shit, I'm going to hop in now." Ellie called to Joel as she ran to the bathroom. She grabbed a few towels, that Tommy supplied as he did with most of the appliances, and slammed the door shut. She stripped down and jumped into the shower. She turned the water on and yelped when it came out cold. She quickly turned it to hot.

She let out a sigh of relief as she felt the hot water run down her.

Joel just finished cooking their steaks, along with some corn on the cob. It was one of the first full meals Ellie and Joel had in ages. Ellie and Joel both stuffed their faces. Ellie made sure to tell Joel what a good cook he was.

"Mmm... This shit's really good." Ellie said. She knew Joel wasn't very fond of her potty-mouth but thought the situation warranted a profanity or two.

"Thanks. You want more? Because with how much I just cooked we'll have to be eating this 'shit' for like a year." Joel said. He laughed, he definitely made much more than enough for him and Ellie.

"Good, it's good." Ellie said with a smirk. They both cleaned their plates. The plates had a few cracks in the sides but otherwise were in great shape.

"So..." Joel began. "Do you want to talk about- whatever it is- or was?" He asked. Ellie sighed for a moment.

"Yeah," She said. She quickly ran up stairs and grabbed the photo and note. She walked down with them both in hand.

She saw Joel sitting on the sofa. She sat down next to him and handed him the note. He began reading it. Ellie bit her lip in anticipation of what he was going to say.

After a moment he set it down on the table. Ellie still hadn't showed him the photo.

"Ellie, I can't _really_ speak for your mother, darlin', but I sure as hell can tell you how proud of you I am." Joel said. Ellie could feel herself tearing up. Joel extended his arms to Ellie, who immediately embraced him. She held tightly to Joel as moments passed. She rested her head on him. Joel didn't seem to care in the slightest.

Ellie wiped her face.

"There's also this, it's- what she looked like." Ellie said as she handed him the photo of a remarkably and horribly familiar face.

It was _that Anna._ Joel's eyes widened._  
_

"Ellie- I-. She's pretty, and I can see where you get your looks from." Joel said absolutely dumbfounded.

* * *

The night passed remarkably slow, but Joel struggled to make sure Ellie enjoyed herself as much as he could. They were watching a movie together and Ellie fell asleep while she was half on Joel. He crawled away from her and stood up. It was nearly 1 AM. He carried Ellie up into her bedroom and layed her down on the bed. He tucked her under the blankets and kissed her on the forehead.

"G'night, babygirl." He said, the same words he said to Sarah almost 21 years ago. Joel retired to his own room. He began thinking about the girl in the photo. _There's no way that isn't her. _Joel thought to himself as he laid in his bed. He began thinking about what had happened.

* * *

It'd been nearly 6 years after Sarah had passed away. He had already dragged Tommy halfway across the country in any direction to safezones. Most fell within a month of them being there, usually infected, sometimes hunters. Joel had even been a part of a city falling. It was Rexburg. The city was prone to flooding and the gangs their all believed that they could run the city better than the military so they took over. Joel was a part of an ambush to steal a truck filled with supplies. Joel and a few other men all walked towards the truck with their hands up and covered in fake blood. When the men in the trucks stepped out to help, or shoot them, the others killed them.

The only problem was after the military was out of the picture, all the gangs began fighting for control. Things got bloody, bombing buildings with military-grade explosives, killing civilians, and several other atrocious acts happened. Joel and Tommy both left before the worst of it happened.

Tommy began realizing that even though man could do inhumane things to man, one of the biggest problems was still the infected. So he joined the fireflies. Joel struggled to keep up with his little brother and even joined up himself. They both had tags for them, Tommy was well-known and well-liked, while Joel was doing grunt-work.

They were both transferred around a lot, and rarely together. Until they ended up working under a woman named Marlene. Tommy got along with her well, but Joel kept his distance. Joel ended up meeting a silly, funny, cute, nurse. Named Anna.

The whole hospital knew about their relationship but nobody cared what they did, as they were both adults. Joel could remember it being a day after his birthday, the day Sarah died. Anna was aware of Joel's deceased daughter and comforted him. She told him that she loved him, Joel told her that he loved her too and they ended up sleeping together later that night.

Joel ended up getting in a fight with someone much higher ranked than him about his daughter. Joel was discharged from the fireflies, he left to Boston and a few years later he met Tess. After a few jobs and jobs gone wrong, he met Ellie. Fast forward a year, and there he was.

* * *

_I'm going to tell her in the morning._ Joel said to himself. He didn't fall asleep for another hour and when he did he dreamt of Ellie, or more specifically their relationship. Would it change?

The moment Joel yelled to Ellie.  
"No.. you're not my daughter. And I sure as hell ain't your dad." What if it was completely untrue? What if they were related? Joel jerked awake in the morning, he sat up quickly and looked around. The realization that it was the morning finally hit him. He had to tell Ellie. Joel walked downstairs to see Ellie already awake, and making herself breakfast.

"Ellie, there's something I need to tell you." Joel said quietly. Ellie seemed anxious as to what he'd say. Joel opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Ellie.

"I'm sorry!" She called out to him. Joel cocked an eyebrow as he stood there, baffled as to why Ellie was apologizing.

"For- For what?" Joel asked. Ellie shook her head.

"I don't know, for last night. And- yeah. I'm sorry." Ellie said. Joel nodded to her.

"Don't be. But there's something I got to tell you." Joel said. They both sat down on the couch and faced each other.

"So, uh- I don't quite know how to say this. I knew your mother." Joel said. Ellie's eyes widened as he said that. For a moment she had a distrustful look to her.

"Oh! What was she like?" Ellie asked. She didn't seem to fully believe Joel. Joel struggled to explain what he meant.

"Nice. Really nice, nerdy, but the cute type, and funny. Really funny." Joel said, Ellie smiled.

"So you liked her?" Ellie asked. Joel nodded. He liked her more so than Ellie realized.

"I uh- had a relationship with her." Joel said. Ellie gave him a look at first.

"A relationship? Like-?"

"I uh- slept with your mother. And I don't want you to take this of the wrong way but... there's a chance I might have gotten her pregnant." Joel said. Ellie gasped.

"Seriously, this is _not_ something you can joke about, Joel. What the fuck?" Ellie yelled at him. She didn't know what got into him.

"Ellie, I _swear on my- daughter_ that I'm not kidding. Your mother and I were, romantically involved when I was with Tommy in the fireflies. I swear to God, Ellie." Joel said. Ellie had never heard him say that. He had rarely even mentioned that he had a daughter.

"I believe you." Ellie said quietly. Joel could still sense doubt in her voice.

"No you don't. Ask Tommy, he'll swear to God that we were together. Ellie, what would I have to gain by convincing you that I'm biologically your dad?" Joel asked. Ellie sighed, she knew that Joel would never lie about this.

"I- Oh my God. You're my dad? Mom- I." Ellie said. She made a face.

"Should we tell Tommy and Maria? Or keep it to ourselves?" Joel asked, it was entirely up to Ellie. He tried to make sure she knew it.

"Uhh- I don't know. He's your brother." Ellie said. She still was having trouble believing that she was Joel's daughter.

"And my uncle? No way- I. Hm, this is weird. Ellie said.

"Yeah, let's tell them." Ellie said. She wrapped her arms around Joel in a hug.


End file.
